Ceasefire for Hodeidah agreed at peace talks

RIMBO: Yemen’s warring parties agreed to a ceasefire in the port city of Hodeidah and placing it under local control at the close of talks on Thursday in a breakthrough for Unled peace efforts to end the war.

United Nations Secretarygeneral Antonio Guterres said that a framework for political negotiations would be discussed at the next round of talks between the Ansar Allah and the government of Abd-rabbu Mansour Hadi.

“You have reached an agreement on Hodeidah port and city, which will see a mutual re-deployment of forces from the port and the city, and the establishment of a Governorate-wide ceasefire,” Guterres said.

“The UN will play a leading role in the port,” he told a news conference in Rimbo, outside Stockholm. UN envoy Martin Griffiths said armed forces of both parties would withdraw “within days” from Hodeidah port, the main entry point for most of Yemen’s commercial imports and vital aid supplies, and later from the city, where coalition troops have massed on the outskirts.

The withdrawal of armed forces would also include Salif port, used for grains, and that of Ras Isa, used for oil, which are both currently under Ansar Allah control.

Guterres said the parties had made “real progress” and that the United Nations would pursue pending issues “without interruption”.